Tom Cavanagh nabs ‘Yogi Bear’ role

Actor to play Ranger Smith in Warner Bros. pic

Tom Cavanagh has signed on to play Ranger Smith in “Yogi Bear,” Warner Bros.’ live- action/CG animated pic that has begun shooting in New Zealand.

Cavanagh joins Anna Faris, Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake.

Donald De Line and Karen Rosenfelt are producing and Eric Brevig (“Journey to the Center of the Earth”) is directing from a script by Brad Copeland.

Cavanagh is the male lead and romantic interest of a documentary filmmaker (Faris) who comes to Jellystone Park to shoot a film. Aykroyd’s voicing the title character and Timberlake his sidekick Boo-Boo in the feature version based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series.

Cavanagh, best known for his small screen stints on the NBC series “Ed,” wrapped production opposite Eric McCormack on the TNT series “Trust Me.”

DeLine exec Andrew Haas is exec producing. Original script for “Yogi” was penned by Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia.